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NOTE: The Colorado Independent occasionally runs guest posts from government officials, local experts and concerned citizens on a variety of topics. These posts are meant […]

“More than 150,000 gallons of water tainted with toxic Air Force firefighting chemicals was released into the Colorado Springs Utilities sewer system last week, Peterson […]

Where do you stand on Proposition 106, the aid-in-dying ballot initiative that would allow terminally ill adults to cause their deaths by taking a prescription […]

That PR firm Hickenlooper hired to enhance his presence among a crowded field to be Hillary’s vice presidential pick did him diddly squat, according to one of Hillary’s hacked emails. The March 17 email from campaign chairman John Podesta to Hillary reveals the names of nearly 40 people who made the first cut, and Hick […]

Casting doubt Trump is calling for his supporters to monitor polling sites in — wink, wink — the inner cities. You know, the places where […]

Last Friday, more than 50 food and retail workers wearing red “Am I fired?” t-shirts rallied at Denver International Airport to demand transparency and job […]

Principal dancer Maria Mosina, as Odette, partners with Alexei Tyukov in selected performances of "Swan Lake" at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Performing Arts Complex. Mosina has announced that she'll retire at the end of this season and turn to teaching younger dancers. The set and costumes are elegant and a live orchestra accompanies the dancers with Tchaikovsky's lyrical score. A real treat! Remaining performances: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20, Oct. 21, Oct. 22; 2 p.m. Oct. 23. Coloradoballet.org, 303-837-8888, ext. 2.'It Can't Happen Here' -- or can it?On Oct. 23 at 5 p.m. Curious Theatre, 1080 Acoma St., Denver, will join theaters across the nation in a free reading performance of a new adaptation of "It Can't Happen Here," based on Sinclair Lewis' satirical novel (1935). Written during the rise of fascism in Europe, it tells a story of a demagogue who becomes president of the United States by promising to make the country great again. In 1936, theaters across the U.S. opened the play on the same night and this will be an 80th anniversary commemoration. The new adaptation is written by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Tony Taccone. Free, but RSVP is required at curioustheatre.org/cant-happen.Salida CircusSpooky fun and Halloween acts will be performed by the Salida Circus at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at Bemis Library, 6014 S. Datura St., Littleton. All ages. Free refreshments. 303-795-3961.'Play-in' presentedThe Arapahoe Philharmonic will present a "play-in" for high school orchestra and band students in Arapahoe and Douglas counties, as well as avocational adult musicians in the community, at Chaparral High School, 15655 Brookstone Drive, Parker. The school is hosting this full day orchestral experience. Participants will spend the day rehearsing the first movement of Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony" and Sibelius' "Finlandia." The community is invited to a free 30-minute performance at 6:30 p.m. Devin Patrick Hughes is music director of the Arapahoe Philharmonic. Arapahoe-phil.org, 303-781-1892.Denver Lyric Opera GuildDLOG's next Opera on Tuesday meeting will be at 11 a.m. on Nov. 1 at Pinehurst Country Club, 6255 W. Quincy Ave., Denver. The program will feature DU's Lamont School of Music. Reservations by Oct. 27. ($40). Pay on dlog website, denverlyricoperaguild.org or send check to: Linda Young, 934 S. Cove Way, Denver, CO 80210. Guests welcome.ACC Foundation"Grapes and Hops to Grads" will be hosted by Arapahoe Community College Foundation from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 10 at the Mike Ward Automotive Maserati Showroom, 1850 Lucent Court in Highlands Ranch. Sample from more than 45 different wines and craft beers from LIDO Wine Merchants. Proceeds will support the ACC Foundation. Tickets cost $45/person; $75/couple. ACC employees, alumni and students may purchase tickets for $35: bit.ly/ACCgrapes. Information: foundation@arapahoe.edu, 303-797-5881.Parker SymphonyDvorak's "New World Symphony" will be featured in the Parker Symphony's concert at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at the PACE Center, 20000 Pikes Peak Ave., Parker. Tickets: $27: parkerarts.org.

"It takes a cast with a certain amount of experience to tell this story," said director Robert Michael Sanders in his director's notes for "The Last Romance." "These people on stage have just that. They have all lived a life, loved, lost and tried again."

With Joe DiPietro's well-crafted, sweet but not saccharine script and skilled actors, only a suggestion of a set is needed --; a bench and projected picture of a surrounding park carry most of the action.

The part of a young man, played by a man with operatic voice who introduces scenes with a familiar aria, is a novel touch and ties the scenes together in a most pleasant way, since octogenarian Ralph Bellini (the excellent Joey Wishnia) had hoped for a career in opera and continues to love it. He has walked to the dog park in the hopes of meeting an attractive woman he'd spotted earlier with her Chihuahua.

Enter Carol Reynolds (Martha Harmon Pardee), who talks to an unseen Peaches, running among furry friends. We meet Peaches (a well-behaved Rocky Balboa Van De Sanders, who is also experienced on the stage) in Act II. Carol seems reserved and brittle until Ralph makes her laugh. He wants to share his love of opera as the pair fall in love.

Sanders, an experienced actor and director has paced the story just right. The other actor in this tale is Ralph's sister, Rose Tagliantelle (Deb Curtis), who is loud, bossy and funny as she worries --; and is jealous that her widower brother/housemate is interested in Carol. No one wants to be left alone ...

If you go

"The Last Romance" plays through Oct. 30 at the beautiful Shaver-Ramsey Gallery, 2414 East Third Ave., Denver, produced by Cherry Creek Theatre Company. Performances: 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays; 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets: $35/$30, cherrycreektheatre.com, 303-800-6578.

Next stop: Mizel

Sadly, this is Cherry Creek Theatre's last production at the Shaver-Ramsey Gallery, since the venue has been sold. The company's new home, which they assure the audience is "only five minutes from here," will be at the Mizel Arts and Culture Center, 350 S. Dahlia St., Denver, where there will be "real theater seats and lots of free parking." The 2017 season will include "Red, Hot and Cole," "The Baby Dance" and "Beau Jest." Performances will be on Thursdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are on sale now. See cherrycreektheater.org.

Small business owner Janelle Sullivan believes Colorado's minimum wage should be raised but says a proposed increase on this year's ballot goes too far.

"It's too much, too fast," said Sullivan, who has owned Hot Pots Studio on Main Street in Littleton since 2003.

But Patty Kupfer, campaign manager at Colorado Families for a Fair Wage, said her group worked with small businesses before settling on the phased-in $12-per-hour goal, believing it will have minimal impact on employment levels and prices of goods and services.

"There were tough conversations around that," she said, acknowledging that many activists wanted to push for a $15 wage floor.

Amendment 70, one of nine statewide ballot questions, would incrementally raise the minimum wage to $12 per hour by January 2020, with continuing increases to adjust for cost of living.

It would initially raise it from the current $8.31 per hour to $9.30 on Jan. 1, with 90-cent increases on Jan. 1 of 2018, 2019 and 2020. The wage would continue to be adjusted annually based on the consumer price index for the state. The minimum wage for tipped workers is $3.02 below the minimum wage. That would stay the same, meaning the minimum wage for tipped workers would rise to $8.98 in 2020.

The current minimum wage of $8.31 amounts to about $17,000 per year for full-time workers. It has risen from $6.85 since 2006 to account for increases in the Consumer Price Index.

The wage hike has drawn opposition from chamber of commerce groups and restaurant and hotel organizations, as well as some small businesses.

Sullivan employs three to five part-time workers at any given time who are paid between $10 and $13 per hour. Although some of her employees make above what the proposed minimum wage would be, there would be a secondary effect, she believes, leading to her higher-paid employees wanting to be paid more as well. She often employs students on a temporary basis and said she may not be able to hire as many workers if the wage rises.

Economist Eric Fruits, in an analysis prepared for free-enterprise think tank Common Sense Policy Roundtable, wrote that the increase would decrease employment by 2 percent by 2020. However, an analysis by two University of Denver faculty members, economist Jack Strauss and graduate school of social work professor Jennifer Greenfield, disputes this, citing a 2015 paper that found a minimal effect on employment rates from rising minimum wages over 15 years.

Here's a look at the eight additional questions that made the ballot:

Amendment 69: ColoradoCare

Amendment 69 would establish a statewide single-payer health care system called ColoradoCare. The system would be funded by new income taxes of 3.33 percent on employees and 6.67 percent on employers.

It would be governed by a 21-member elected board of trustees. The election procedure will be determined by an interim 15-member board appointed by state legislative leadership and the governor.

Parker activist Richard Turnquist was one of the early opponents of Amendment 69, registering the Committee to Stop Colorado Care in November 2015.

"It represents a massive increase in government and in our state income tax burden," he said.

Turnquist is also skeptical of the quality of single-payer health care.

The Colorado Medical Society board of directors also voted to oppose ColoradoCare, citing "complexity (and) uncertainty."

The measure has also split the left, with NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado coming out against it in June, citing concerns the state constitution ban on public funding for abortion would limit access to it.

Morgan Carroll, the Democratic challenger to incumbent Mike Coffman in the 6th Congressional District, also declined to support ColoradoCare, saying rising health care costs must be solved at the national level.

Democratic House District 38 hopeful Robert Bowen is one of a handful of candidates in the state actively supporting Amendment 69.

"I think it's something we ought to be doing, and it's in the party platform," he said.

Bowen said he believes the system would actually decrease health costs for businesses but he said the health insurance industry wields a lot of power in the state.

Proposition 106: Aid in dying

Proposition 106 would allow a terminally-ill person with a prognosis of six months or less to live to self-administer aid-in-dying medication.

The proposition would create the Colorado End-of-Life Options Act. In order to obtain the medication, the patient's terminal prognosis must have been confirmed by his or her primary physician as well as a consulting physician, and the patient must be determined to be mentally capable, voluntarily express a wish to receive the medication and be a Colorado resident 18 or older.

The measure also makes it a felony to tamper with a request for aid-in-dying medication or knowingly coerce a terminally-ill person to request it, and also prohibits insurers from issuing policies with conditions about whether people can request the medication.

Littleton clinical social worker Libby Bortz, who used to teach biomedical ethics, said she strongly favors the act, an opinion formed by her experience working with terminally ill people.

"We are able to help our pets when they're suffering," she said. "Why we can't help a human being is beyond me."

The Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University has opposed the measure, saying it doesn't have necessary safeguards.

"It opens the door for insurance companies and government to be invloved in everybody's end-of-life decisions," Director Jeff Hunt said.

Hunt said he and the Centennial Institute also oppose assisted suicide on philosphical grounds.

If Proposition 106 passes, Colorado would join Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana and California as states that allow terminally-ill people to end their lives. Only Oregon and Washington passed those laws by ballot initiative.

Proposition 107: Presidential Primary Election

Proposition 107 would re-establish the state's presidential primary elections. Colorado held presidential primaries in 1992, 1996 and 2000, but has used the caucus system since. Both Republican and Democratic voters criticized the caucus this year as being chaotic, and many Republican voters were upset that the party did not conduct a straw poll to determine the preferred presidential candidate.

Proposition 107 would also allow participation by unaffiliated voters.

Proposition 108: Unaffiliated voter participation in primary elections

Proposition 108 would open Colorado's primary elections to unaffiliated voters. Under current law, a voter must be affiliated with a political party to vote in that party's primary.

Amendment T: No exception to involuntary service

Amendment T would amend the state Constitution, removing an exception allowing the use of involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime. This could be interpreted to prohibit work requirements in the criminal justice system.

Amendment U: Exempt possessory interests from property tax

Amendment U would eliminate property tax for businesses and individuals who derive a benefit of $6,000 or less from the use of government-owned real property and adjust the exemption amount every two years to keep up with inflation. Currently, the state does not tax government-owned property but does impose property tax on those who rent, lease or have other rights to use a government property, such as cattle-grazing rights.

Amendment 71: Raise the bar for constitutional amendments

Amendment 71 would create new requirements for placing a constitutional initiative on the ballot.

Currently, to get a citizen initiative, backers must collect enough signatures to equal 5 percent of the votes cast in the most recent election for Secretary of State in a six-month period. In 2016, the requirement was 98,492 signatures. Amendment 71 would require that some of the signatures be collected in each of the state's 35 Senate districts, in the amount of 2 percent of the registered voters in that district.

It would also require a 55 percent super-majority of votes to adopt a change to the Constitution, rather than the current simple majority.

Amendment 72: Increase in tobacco tax

Amendment 72 would raise the state tax on cigarettes from 84 cents to $2.59 and increase the tax on other tobacco products from 40 percent of the retail price to 62 percent.

The revenue would be distributed to various health programs that are already funded by tobacco taxes, as well as research grants studying tobacco-related health issues, tobacco-use prevention programs and others.

Even when she was by herself, Luana Kurz always knew she really wasn't."I never felt alone at nighttime," she said.As a child Kurz didn't want to believe in ghosts, despite mounting evidence that her family shared their home with other, invisible tenants.Candles blew out on their own. Cabinet doors, closed when the family went to bed, were open in the morning. Lying in bed one night when she was 17, Kurz received a visit from her grandfather."I was lying on my side, I couldn't move, and I felt cold," Kurz said. "I felt a hand patting me, and I looked down and saw his hand, and I just felt his peace." She remained in bed, motionless, until her father knocked on her door."About an hour later, the phone rang and my father came to my room," Kurz said. "He said `I just want to tell you that your grandpa died about an hour ago.' "Englewood resident Michelle Mayer always had a feeling her childhood home in Rochester, New York, was haunted, but her parents wouldn't talk about her suspicions.When she moved to her own apartment in 1987, she didn't suspect there were ghosts in the building. She knew.Lights turned themselves on and off. The phone rang spontaneously. She watched plates float around her kitchen."I'd be cooking and the dish I was about to put the food on would move from one side of the sink to the other," Mayer, 45, said.At 10 years old in Michigan, LeeAnna Jonas and two friends played with a Ouija board, hoping for a spooky thrill. They ended up screaming and running from the basement."We all looked up and saw an apparition of a woman sitting in a rocking chair, with a baby in one arm and a knife in her other hand," the 54-year-old Littleton resident said."I always knew it was there," Jonas said. "I just didn't know how to find out for sure."Now she knows.Jonas, Mayer and Kurz all spend their nights probing the noises, apparitions and other unexplained phenomena that keep others up at night. They offer their services for free, to maintain objectivity and propriety."It's kind of unethical to have a scared homeowner and charge them for your help," Kurz said."We're out there to learn, we're out there to help," Jonas added. "The living and the dead."'They reach out to you'Kurz, 40, leads Colorado Shadow Investigations, a team of 10 to 12 people who feel connected to the afterlife and look for traces of it in the metro area.The team has performed approximately 200 investigations since its 2010 inception, relying on a combination of intuition and technology. The goal, Kurz said, is research rather than finding hard proof."When I started out I just wanted to find that one piece of evidence, to prove it to the scientific community," Kurz said, but the more she looked for evidence, the more elusive it became."You can't repeat results like you do with scientific research," she said. "You can't make an apparition walk the same way down a hallway."As she got more seasoned, Kurz relied less on her tools than her senses. After more than 200 cases, she said her abilities have sharpened to the point that she can see, smell and hear ghosts, as well as sense their moods. She said the spirits she meets are almost always playful and positive."Eventually I learned to open up," she said. "When they know you can communicate, they reach out to you.""Reaching out" has never been a problem for Jonas, who says she and her partners at Spirit Realm Investigative Project "always find something" on the 50-plus investigations they've conducted.A bigger problem, she said, is getting a ghost to back off.On her first investigation with partner Lolli Hughes, the duo explored a historic warehouse in Central City. The building's original owner was reputed to have traveled to Haiti to dabble in voodoo in the early 1900s. Jonas said he brought something back with him, something that attacked Hughes."She said it felt like something was squeezing her spine," Jonas said. "We had to get her out of the building as soon as possible."Like Kurz, Mayer said she's performed more than 200 investigations, but hasn't had any violent interactions with spirits."I haven't had any that were what I'd call scary. Creepy, I'd say maybe 1 percent. Grumpy, which I define as having an attitude but harmless, I'd say about 20 percent," she said. "The only time I've ever screamed was in Cañon City."Mayer and her team, Full Moon Explorations, were touring the former women's prison, notorious for the restless spirits of former inmates. Wrapping things up for the night, she picked up her laptop."There was a cockroach about four inches long under it," she said.Opening minds, not changing themMayer welcomes skeptics to accompany her group on investigations. She lets them use audio recorders and cameras she provides so they know the information hasn't been manipulated. Still, she says, not everyone can be convinced that spirits walk among them."I won't say we've turned a lot of skeptics into believers," Mayer said, "but maybe we've opened their minds up."The peaceful connection Kurz feels to the afterlife is reason enough to continue her work. Whatever others think of it, she said, isn't her concern."For me, this has opened up another world," Kurz said. "I don't worry about other people's opinions."All three women added that while they are happy to share their findings, convincing skeptics isn't part of the job.They leave that to others."They won't believe it," Jonas said, "until it happens to them."

2016 World Champion Marquez and Repsol Honda Team en route to Australia. Nicky Hayden to replace Pedrosa Fresh from clinching the Riders’ Championship at Motegi with Marc Marquez, the Repsol Honda team has packed up in Japan and is headed… Continue Reading →

The Colorado Business Committee for the Arts has issued its most recent report, called "Economic Activity Study of the Metro Denver Culture" which reports on statistics from activities completed in 2015. Results were compiled from reports by 100 percent of the 264 grantee organizations, large and small, that received funding from the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District --; or SCFD --; in 2015.

"As a state, Colorado ranks top in the country for classical music concert, dance and theater performances and art museum attendance. The Denver metro area is also ranked high nationally for performing and visual arts attendance. With an emphasis on accessibility, free attendance went up 3 percent from 2013," the report says.

In September, the SCFD Board of Directors approved distribution of $7,649,204 to 246 Tier III organizations in seven metro Denver counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson. The money is being distributed this month --; Arapahoe got $1,589,604 on Oct. 13 and Douglas got $630,257 on Oct. 24. Funds are based on collection of one cent of sales tax on a $10 sale in the seven counties.

Economic impact

Here's how the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts sees the economic impact of arts organizations assisted by SCFD funding:

Economic activity: $1.8 billion

This includes operating expenditures, audience spending and capital expenditures. The ripple effect ranges widely --; food for animals at the Denver Zoo; actors' salaries that are spent locally; pay for a baby sitter so parents can attend shows; money spent to drive to Hudson Gardens or Morrison Natural History Museum ...

Total economic impact: $ 512.8 million

Cultural tourism: $367 million; capital expenditures: $55 million; federal grants: $90.8 million

Total jobs: 10,731

This covers a broad array of positions, from curator to accountant to zookeeper to jazz teacher ...

Total payroll: $165.2 million

Total seat, sales and payroll taxes: $19.8 million

Total contributions: $176.4 million

Total attendance: 13.9 million

The average metro resident had 4.5 art experiences in 2015.

Total outreach to children: 3.9 million

Total volunteers 42,415

Hours spent volunteering reached 2,031,073.

SCFD distributions: $53.2 million.